Administrative
history of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, under a
cooperative agreement with the National Park Service (NPS) and the Organization
of American Historians (OAH).

Research and writing:Conducted primary source research in park
archives, local historical society and library, National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA), and online sources.Reviewed secondary sources on segregation, race relations in Virginia,
Civil War battles, reenactment, Civilian Conservation Corps, urban sprawl, and
other topics.Completed 20 oral history
interviews with park officials, local residents (both supportive of and opposed
to the park), county officials, and local elected officials.Wrote a six-chapter book including maps and
photographs, appendices, and an epilogue.

Results:Book includes management recommendations to
connect the history of the park with future planning.Zenzen critically examined each facet of the
park’s history, including its long adherence to military tactics and to its
southern-leaning Lost Cause tradition in an analysis section at the end of each
chapter.This cutting-edge history,
examining for the first-time specific ways in which development effected park
interpretation and land acquisition, serves park management as it completes a
new General Management Plan (GMP).Zenzen served as a resource for the park superintendent, chief
historian, and cultural resources manager, sharing her research findings.

Administrative
history of Minute Man National Historical Park, under a cooperative
agreement with NPS and OAH.

Research and writing:Zenzen conducted primary source research in
park archives, local libraries, NARA, and the Federal Records Center (FRC) in
Waltham, MA.Reviewed secondary sources
on American Revolutionary War and urban sprawl issues.Completed 17 oral history interviews with
park officials, local elected representatives, business and development
interests, and local residents (both supportive of and opposed to the park).Completed ten-chapter book with photographs,
maps, and appendices.

Results:This history, published by NPS, served as a
resource for the park during a GMP effort and when the park celebrated its 50th
anniversary.

Administrative
history of Fort Stanwix National Monument, under contract with NPS.

Research and writing:Zenzen conducted primary source research in
park archives, local library and historical society collections, NARA, and
FRC-Waltham.Reviewed secondary sources
on the history of the local area, the 1777 siege, reconstruction, reenactment,
urban renewal, and other topics.Conducted 19 oral history interviews with Park Service officials, a
United States congressional representative, local residents (both supportive of
and opposed to the park), locally elected officials, state government
representatives, and business owners.

Results:This seven-chapter book, published by SUNY
Press, has provided past and current park superintendents with crucial and
necessary background for understanding key issues that continue to confront the
park and its relationships with local officials and residents.One former park superintendent wrote in The Public Historian about how Zenzen’s
research findings and sharing of information with the park helped him address
contested issues.Zenzen gave an invited
talk at the local historical society in 2004.

Reviews:“[Zenzen] takes a fairly complicated process,
the early development of what would become the battlefield parks, and presents
it clearly and concisely...”

SARAH BUYNAK,book
review of FortStanwixNational Monument
in The History News

“As an administrative history, Zenzen’s account contains
some details that will interest only a limited audience. But, overall, this
book belongs on the shelf of anyone who wants to know how people work—and work
it is—to create and maintain historic sites.”JUDITH WELLMAN of Historical New York Research Associates, review of
Fort Stanwix National Monument in The
Public Historian

History of the
preservation struggles at Manassas National Battlefield Park.Wrote proposal and won contract with NPS,
working as a historian for History Associates Incorporated.

Research and writing:Trained and supervised a research historian
in primary source research.Reviewed
secondary sources on Civil War battles, urban sprawl, and other topics.Conducted research at park archives, Library
of Congress, NARA, FRC-Washington, local library, and in Prince William County
records.Completed 23 oral history
interviews with Park Service officials, local residents (both supportive of and
opposed to the park), a United States Senator, a former US congressional
representative, locally elected officials, a key developer, preservationists,
and an important representative from the Walt Disney Company.

Results:The 11-chapter book, published by Penn State
Press, continues to serve park managers and is spoken highly of by Park Service
historians as a model for other administrative histories.This book represented cutting-edge research
and writing about park development threats and land acquisition
strategies.Gave an invited talk at the
park in 1995 and gave another one in 2011 on the day of the sesquicentennial.

Reviews:“In the course of developing the park’s
history, Zenzen has given us a concise history of battlefield preservation… The
author does an excellent job of explaining these preservation efforts without
getting hopelessly lost in the details… Through the maze of legislation and
politics, the author skillfully traces the frustrating attempts and near misses
as various people and groups tried unsuccessfully to have the importance of Manassas recognized with a
national park designation.”JOSEPH E.
BRENT, Kentucky Heritage Council, review of Battling for Manassas in The Public Historian